Close political calls become the new norm

Ahead of Saturday's West Australian election the poll trend is pointing to a tight race between veteran Premier Colin Barnett and Labor's McGowan.

The voter mood, just as it was with the 2016 federal election, appears to be a pox on both your houses.

Evidence of this is the attraction of Pauline Hanson's One Nation, which could well play a balance of power role in WA's upper house alongside the likes of anti-fluoride campaigners and gun advocates.

Hanson's final week of campaigning, which saw the Queensland senator set a cracking pace across WA, probably did more harm than good for her party.

She's been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons - attacking Muslims, seeking an end to penalty rates, promoting harmful anti-vaccination messages and watching her party organisation descends into chaos.

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But there's always a chance for One Nation that Oscar Wilde's maxim could come true - the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.

Published polls give Labor a solid chance of winning government in WA.

But experienced political observers see some danger.

An online poll by the Australian Institute for Progress - headed by former Queensland Liberal campaign chairman Graham Young - suggests mixed views in WA on the question of "who do you think will win", which is often a good indicator of voter mood.

Of the sample voters, 29 per cent expected Labor to be in power, 23 per cent the Liberal-Nationals, 20 per cent a hung parliament and 28 per cent unsure.

Figures such as these are an indication of a broader malaise.

There is a general sense of disenchantment with politics in general and incumbent governments in particular across the country.

In WA it's particularly acute, as the state with the worst unemployment rate, wages flat, power prices rising and drug-related crime in the headlines.

The national political fog won't break for some time, so premiers such as Annastacia Palaszczuk - who runs a minority government - will face a similar problem when she goes to the polls some time this year.

Turnbull was right not to play much of a role in WA, apart from one visit on which he embarrassed Barnett by not coming with a solution to the premier's GST woes.

State premiers more often than not find it more useful to bag Canberra and point to the unfairness of federal policy than be seen with prime ministers.

What is most concerning is the further reduction in public confidence that comes from having another government with a delicately balanced majority.

Turnbull knows his government is, on a daily basis, one scandal or disgruntled MP away from toppling.

The latest Essential poll has the government trailing Labor 47-53 per cent in two-party terms, largely in line with other recent polls.

The polls in part reflects Turnbull's misreading of the public mood on penalty rates, following the Fair Work Commission's decision to cut Sunday rates for the retail, hospitality, fast food and pharmacy industries.

The prime minister has sought to put the focus squarely on rising power prices and the inability of state Labor governments to keep the lights on as they race to switch on more renewable energy.

However it's an uphill battle, particularly given Liberal-led states like WA have overseen price hikes of 70 per cent over the past eight years and Barnett is seeking a mandate to sell off his power grid just as voters are questioning the merits of privatisation.

You get the feeling Turnbull would do well to convene an early COAG meeting, once the dust settles on the WA election, to debrief on what is going wrong in politics. Perhaps even bring in the opposition leaders.

With one in four voters locked in to back non-major parties and four out of five voters saying in a poll this week they prefer "someone else" over Turnbull and Shorten to lead the Liberal and Labor parties, it couldn't do any harm.